WHO DEMARCHE TO TAIWAN: SYMBOLISM VS PRACTICE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 TAIPEI 001246

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/07/2016
TAGS: TBIO PREL WHO TW
SUBJECT: WHO DEMARCHE TO TAIWAN: SYMBOLISM VS PRACTICE

REF: TAIPEI 51188

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Classified By: AIT Deputy Director David J. Keegan. Reason(s):
1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary. Vice Foreign Minister Michael Kau told AIT
Deputy Director that Taiwan intends to continue pushing WHO
observership but pledged to give high priority to increasing
Taiwan's "meaningful participation" in WHO activities. Kau
specifically requested a U.S. statement of support for Taiwan
participation in WHO activities, as well as specific U.S.
support for Taiwan participation in WHO technical activities,
including the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network
(GOARN) and the International Health Regulations (IHR) as a
"participating party," and for an exchange of letters between
Taiwan and WHO on Taiwan participation. He noted that the EU
has been generally supportive of Taiwan participation in WHO
activities, but only after checking first with Beijing. The
Deputy Director also met with TCDC to emphasize U.S. desire
to cooperate with Taiwan on WHO matters increasingly at the
working level, focusing on enhancing Taiwan participation in
WHO technical activities. These two meetngs highlighted the
political-practical division in Taiwan's WHO diplomacy --
MOFA pushing for international space and domestic political
points, TCDC focused on improving Taiwan's ability to work on
international health issues. End Summary.

MOFA: Observership, Meaningful Participation
--------------


2. (C) On Saturday, April 1, Deputy Director David Keegan
met with Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) Michael Kau
(Ying-mao) to present reftel talking points on Taiwan and
WHO. Kau was accompanied by MOFA International Organizations
(IO) Director-General John Chen and Ministry of Health
International Cooperation Director-General Peter Chang. The
Deputy Director told VFM Kau that the U.S. supports Taiwan on
both WHA observer status and access to meaningful
participation in WHO activities. The current WHO situation
indicates observer status is very difficult for the
foreseeable future, however, and the U.S. believes there can
be very little chance for a real breakthrough until Taiwan
and the PRC reach an understandng. Meanwhile, the U.S.
believes a "two-by-two" debate at the World Health Assembly
(WHA) in May may offer the best way to surface Taiwan
aspirations, since the PRC has indicated its willingness to
allow a "two-by-two" debate in the WHA.


3. (C) The Deputy Director emphasized that the U.S. wants to
explore other areas for Taiwan participation in WHO
activities, particularly GOARN and IHRs. To this end,
Washington has instructed U.S. missions to inform their host
governments that the U.S. supports Taiwan's active
participation in WHO. In turn, the Deputy Director urged
Taiwan to state its willingness to take on responsibilities
in the International Health Regulations (IHR) without an
expectation of any rights being granted, because the U.S.
believes this practical route will demonstrate the positive
role Taiwan can play with WHO and bring the greatest
practical results.


4. (C) Vice Minister Kau expressed appreciation for the
opportunity to discuss Taiwan strategy for the WHA, but noted
that in previous years Taiwan and the U.S. had held annual
consultations in Washington and that he hoped broader
consultations might occur this year. Taiwan still hopes, he
continued, to attain WHA observer status, which would greatly
facilitate Taiwan participation in WHO activities. It would
be very difficult for Taiwan to retreat on the observer
issue, Kau argued, just as it would be awkward for the U.S.
to retreat from its earlier support for Taiwan observership.
Rather, he argued, it is important to keep the issue alive
and maintain pressure on the PRC. Therefore, Kau continued,
Taiwan wants to put observership on the WHA agenda this year,
though it will place primary emphasis on "meaningful
participation," a strategy which Taiwan would like to discuss
with the U.S. In particular, Taiwan wants to interact more

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systematically with GOARN and is, to that end, trying to
elicit a written response from GOARN.

MOFA: Request for U.S. Assistance
--------------


5. (C) Kau told the Deputy Director that Taiwan is
requesting a public statement of support from the U.S. for
Taiwan's participation in WHO activities. Even just a very
general statement, he explained, would greatly assist
Taiwan's efforts at meaningful participation in WHO
activities. One of Taiwan's biggest problems in trying to
enhance its meaningful participation with WHO is that other
countries always ask what the U.S. position is. The absence
of a recent U.S. statement, Kau argued, had caused other
countries to ask whether the U.S. position has changed. IO
Director-General John Chen interjected that a possible
alternative to a public U.S. statement would be for Health
and Human Services Secretary Leavitt to write another letter
to Secretary-General Lee Jong-wook expressing U.S. support
for Taiwan participation. The WHO Secretariat had responded
"within one week" after the last U.S. intervention, Chen
noted, and moved quickly to help facilitate Taiwan
participation in WHO activities.


6. (C) Kau then presented the Deputy Director with a request
for "U.S. Support for Taiwan's WHO Campaign" (marked
"Confidential," e-mailed separately to EAP/TC),requesting
U.S. support in five areas:

(1) Helping Taiwan to establish a partnership with GOARN and
other disease prevention and control mechanisms.

(2) Urging WHO to invite Taiwan to participate in all WHO
technical meetings, including WHA's Committee A.

(3) Requesting the Director-General of WHO to facilitate
Taiwan's participation in regional activities of WHO in Asia.


(4) Urging WHO to accept Taiwan into the IHR mechanism as a
"participating party" and to accept Taiwan CDC as an IHR
focal point.

(5) Requesting the Director-General of the WHO to exchange
letters with Taiwan, so as to establish systematic
arrangements for Taiwan's "meaningful participation" in the
WHO.


7. (C) While Taiwan is already participating in AI technical
meetings, Kau explained, there are many barriers inhibiting
Taiwan participation. Taiwan, for example, receives little
information from WHO and must depend on the WHO website.
When WHO does notify Taiwan of a workshop, it is often only a
day or two before the application deadline, making it
extremely difficult for Taiwan to arrange delegations.
Director-General Lee's letter to the Austrian EU Presidency
stating that WHO already facilitates Taiwan participation,
was very "superficial and perfunctory," failing to note how
many meetings had excluded Taiwan. He noted, however, that
Taiwan has had constructive meetings with the EU, which has
expressed support for Taiwan WHO participation (although, he
lamented, only after first checking with Beijing). Kau
handed the Deputy Director a chart (e-mailed to EAP/TC)
showing that Taiwan has participated in 12 and been
"rejected" from participating in 20 WHO technical meetings.


8. (C) VFM Kau told the Deputy Director that Taiwan will use
"maximum pragmatism" in cooperating with WHO. In the face of
PRC interference, Taiwan seeks to negotiate health MOU's with
various countries. Recently, for example, Taiwan offered
Vietnam 600,000 tabs of Tamiflu. On March 30, Taiwan
launched its International Health Action (IHA) database to
list medical human resources available in Taiwan (doctors,
nurses, etc.) and willing to serve abroad. A medical team,
he noted, was in the air just hours after a mud slide
occurred in the Philippines earlier this year. IHA, the

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coordinating mechanism for Taiwan's immediate response, is
part of Taiwan's commitment to participating in international
health activities. If this also helps Taiwan's WHO
participation, Kau noted, so much the better.

Putting Practice Before Symbolism
--------------


9. (C) The Deputy Director responded that MOFA has focused
intently on rhetoric in letters and correspondence, which so
far, like nomenclature, has not yielded results. The focus,
he urged, should be on Taiwan taking on international health
responsibilities rather than on receiving letters from the
WHO. The problem, the Deputy Director explained, is too much
emphasis on symbolism and too little on practicality,
reflected in a MOFA-led agenda rather than a Ministry of
Health (MOH) or CDC-led agenda. On other issues, AIT just
notifies MOFA as a courtesy and then works directly with the
functional agency. On WHO issues, we would propose to work
more with MOH and CDC and less with MOFA. The U.S. goal is
to make the Geneva mechanism work, emphasizing direct
interaction between WHO and functional health agencies in
Taiwan. This would enable us to spend more time on these
kinds of issues and less on the issue of observership.


10. (C) VFM Kau concluded by urging broader consultations
between Taiwan and the U.S., especially in conjunction with
the WHA meetings in May. He asked if the Deputy Director saw
a Washington meeting as useful. The Deputy Director
responded that he did not see the necessity for this, but
that if Taipei has reasons, AIT would be ready to convey them
to Washington for consideration. AIT, he explained, would
need precise information on what specifically might be
accomplished.

Taiwan CDC: Urging Participation in Professional Meetings
-------------- --------------


11. (C) The Deputy Director called on TCDC Director Steve
Kuo on April 4 to present reftel talking points. He focused
on Taiwan participation in WHO activities, emphasizing that
the U.S. believed the most important issue for Taiwan was to
continue to expand its participation in WHO professional
meetings. The Deputy Director explained that the U.S. was
willing to help Taiwan achieve its goals by focusing on
health related activities. To that end, he explained, the
U.S. is willing to assist Taiwan increase its practical
participation in WHO activities and share its expertise in
order to create a positive atmosphere for Taiwan.


12. (C) Director Kuo expressed appreciation for U.S. support
for Taiwan in the WHO, noting that this support had opened
many opportunities for Taiwan participation in WHO technical
meetings. TCDC officials, he said, had become very
frustrated over Taiwan's efforts to participate in WHO as an
observer. Minister of Health Hou Sheng-mou, he noted, had
directed TCDC to make every effort to participate in all
activities of the WHO and not to let any meetings go
unattended.


13. (C) Kuo initially expressed surprise and discomfort over
receiving the demarche, noting that he had invited MOFA to
send a representative to the meeting and that MOFA had said
there was no need for that as Kau had already received the
demarche from AIT. Kuo also pointed out that Taiwan
observership in WHO had always been a political issue under
MOFA auspices, and he did not want to be seen as usurping
MOFA's role or becoming an obstacle to Taiwan's quest for
observership at WHO. He wondered, moreover, whether greater
Taiwan participation in WHO activities might actually reduce
its chances for attaining observer status in the long run.
The Deputy Director responded that the opposite was true,
that the more active participation by Taiwan in WHO
activities, the more goodwill it would generate and, thus,
raise Taiwan's long-term chances to attain observer status.
The U.S., he said, would continue working with Taiwan to
ensure it receives advance notice from WHO about

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international meetings to give ample time to plan attendance.


Comment: Politics vs Practice
--------------


14. (C) Under heavy political pressure, MOFA continues to
push politics and symbolism, subtly trying to leverage WHO
responses to Taiwan correspondence to imply some level of
"recognition" for Taiwan. When the Deputy Director noted
that he would present the reftel talking points to the TCDC
on April 4, VDM Kau sought to dissuade him, arguing that
presentation to MOFA was sufficient. For his part, although
Kuo was initially skeptical about U.S. emphasis on practical
over political/symbolism, in the end he seemed satisfied that
AIT 's recommendation was a positive one which meshed with
TCDC's goals of participating in every WHO meeting
opportunity possible.
YOUNG